Outdoor Columnists

Steve Jones, 55, will be celebrated in Chicago on Sunday, as the marathon celebrates the 25th anniversary of his win, as well as that of Joan Benoit Samuelson, who took the 1985 women s race. Jones is taking a dozen runners from his Boulder Express club to the race. (Courtesy photo)

Even now, 25 years later, Steve Jones` epic front-running at the 1985 Chicago Marathon turns heads and gets running fans talking about the handful of races, and runners, considered among the greatest ever.

Count Jones, 55 and a longtime Boulder resident, at the very top of the list.

A bit of background: In the 1984 Chicago Marathon, Jones, a native of Wales, had set the world marathon best of 2:08:05 in his first full marathon (he had started the `83 race but was forced out by an injury). The following April, Carlos Lopes of Portugal, the Los Angeles Olympic marathon champ, broke Jones` record, clocking 2 hours, 7 minutes and 12 seconds.

And so on a cool, rainy October morning 25 years ago, "Jonesy" returned to Chicago. Not, however, to reclaim his record. Rather, he was focused solely on beating an elite field that included Australian great Rob de Castella, himself a former Boulder resident whose marathon world record of 2:08:18 Jones had broken.

To beat the strong-finishing De Castella, known as "Deek," Jones knew he had to get away early. And that he did, passing the halfway point in an incredible 1 hour, 1 minute and 42 seconds, itself a time not far off the then-world-best for the half marathon distance -- and Jonesy had another 13.1 miles to go.

"Many runners consider that race the greatest ever," my brother, Kevin, said when I asked him about it, since he was in the race. "I remember that it was cool and a little windy.

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Said Ewen North of the Bolder Boulder, who trains with Jones` Boulder Express club, "Jonesy`s race in `85 must rank as one of the best all-time performances and probably one of the world`s most gutsy runs. Legendary, absolutely legendary."

"Certainly one of the greatest (marathons ever)," added Peter Richards, a local who was on the press truck for the 1985 race.

"One of most revered efforts in all of marathoning running," Bank of America Chicago Marathon officials said in a news release.

Mike Sandrock

Others have since run faster, but what makes his 2:07 special is that Jones did it racing the best, and not in a race set up as a time trial. He was all by himself in uncharted territory, having left the pacemaker far behind, with no pace car or other runner breaking the chilly Chicago lakefront wind for him.

"I wanted to beat 'Deek` and win the race," Jones said last week when I caught up with him -- literally, as he was on his bicycle pacing some of his Boulder Express runners on one of their final workouts before a large group of them races in Chicago on Sunday. "I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I was going into the unknown."

Only Boulder`s Simeon Kigen hung with Jones in the early going, and when Jones dropped a 4:34 mile on him in mile seven, Kigen was gone.

And so was Jones, going where no runner had gone before. He followed that mile with splits of 4:39; 4:37; 4:39 and 4:38 on his way to passing halfway in that astounding 1:01:42.

The brutal pace finally caught up to Jones in the final miles, yet he was able to maintain his form. With no clock on a vehicle in front of him, he came down the final straightaway not realizing how close he was to reclaiming his world record. Jones knew only that he was going to win.

He celebrated with the cheering fans the last stretch, not seeing the finishing clock over the tape until it was too late to sprint in.

Jones missed Lopes` record, and a $50,000 bonus, by just a single tick of the clock.

"We knew Steve was a great distance runner, but that race took him to a whole new level," De Castella said in an e-mail message. "He blitzed us all. ... I still remember watching his last K (kilometer) on replay as he`s high-fiveing the crowd."

"Steve ran an incredible last 10K, all on his own, and I was just blown away by how rugged and determined he looked," said Boulder Road Runner head Rich Castro, who was also on the press truck that day.

That same hardscrabble, Welsh-mining-town determination is what Jones now passes on to the lucky runners in Boulder Express. Just as he did when pushing back the boundaries of what runners thought possible, Jones puts his full effort into coaching. He does not run much anymore, but spends many hours a week riding along with his runners, who range from elites to busy mothers looking for a personal best at Chicago this Sunday, as well as others just glad to have a fun training group.

Jones` reason for spending so much time coaching?

"I have a great appreciation for what they are trying to do," he said.

Jones, who might seem a bit like a sheepdog herding his flock to a casual observer coming upon the Boulder Express group of 20 or so out on Marshall Road on an early-morning workout, added, "They have dreams and ambitions they are trying to achieve. I try and teach them that elite athletes go through the same emotions they do. The marathon is all about stress and coping with emotions."

I had more questions for Jones, about training, racing and his early life in the Vale of Glamorgan in south Wales, but he was in a hurry.

Tossing his bicycle into the back of his red SUV, he said he had to go. Seems like he was putting in a bid to paint a house. A blue-collar champion, indeed.

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